..and lunch with Anne Widdecombe

A busy day today. Went at 9.0am with my grandson Zac aged 4 to Small and Tall, his nursery and was told sternly to 'stop singing' on our way. I was married to a musician and both our daughters trained to sing professionally. What an irony that I sound like a corncrake. I am in my 'nines' for lunch today with Anne Widdecombe in Dumfries at the 2012 The Women of Dumfries and Galloway lunch. Meanhile, I am waiting in for Martin Tabor of Land Use Consultants in Glasgow, to whom I loaned my collection of archaeology and other history books about the Upper Clyde Valley. He and I are working with a small group of residents to provide visitors to the area with facilities and information about an area rich in all sorts of relics. One of my favourite hidden monuments is to the railway workers who died of cholera building what is now known as the main West coast line. They were buried in a mass grave, only sanctified years later by a belated visit from the Bishop of Glasgow or some senior cleric - I will have to re-visit it to check. That area of south Lanarkshire, where I used to live, is packed with fascinating sites that people usually whizz past on their way north. We aim to slow them down and encourage them to stop, or encourage day visitors, with a series of stunning architect-designed shelters and stop-off points accessible by Segways, bikes or on foot. Our leaflets for Beyond the Garden Gate will be available in the next few days, as well as a press release.